


Valentine's in Hogsmeade

by showmeyourtardis



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Jealousy, M/M, Mutual Pining, POV Multiple, Rumours, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:21:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 17,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25222318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/showmeyourtardis/pseuds/showmeyourtardis
Summary: Sirius Black has a problem, and it comes in the shape of the Ravenclaw Head Boy that keeps kissing Remus Lupin. Meanwhile, Lily Evans also has a problem when a rumour appears stating she was snogging someone in the corridor and somehow finds its way to James Potter.
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 61
Kudos: 454





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> wow so I knew it was only a matter of time before I was back writing about this lot again. I had a look and the very first marauder fic I wrote was published SIX YEARS AGO. God damn I love these boys. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy, let me know with your kudos/comments if you want more. And watch this space for another fic I'm working on.

Sirius was sneaking through the Hogwarts corridors. He’d done this a hundred times and he knew these corridors like the back of his hand. He didn’t need the Marauders Map, which was safely tucked away under his pillow, and he didn’t need the invisibility cloak which was somewhere out in the castle with Remus. He kept his ears pricked for the sound of footsteps, maybe even giggling, and certainly the disgustingly wet sounds of two people snogging.

He was so focused on finding Remus that he didn’t notice the person who dashed out from behind the suit of armour and seized his arm. He let out a yelp of fright which was swiftly cut off by a hand pressed to his mouth. He was dragged backwards behind the suit of armour before he could even think about fighting.

When he finally managed to put up a fight, the hand left his mouth and a soft voice said, “Don’t scream!”

Sirius turned to glower at Lily, “I wasn’t going to scream.”

“You looked like you were.”

“I wasn’t going…” Sirius trailed off. He shook his head to shake away the momentary fear that had seized him. “Why did you drag me back here?”

“Is he gone?”

“Who?”

“Severus.”

“Snivellus? I didn’t see him,” Sirius peered out from behind the suit of armour. He couldn’t see a greasy slime trail leading down the corridor that would suggest Snape’s presence.

“Do you have to call him that?” Lily protested, pulling his head away from the corridor before he could get caught.

“I don’t know. Does he have to call you what he calls you?”

“He doesn’t do that anymore,” Lily said, but Sirius saw two spots of colour rise in her cheeks and knew she was lying.

Sirius stepped out into the corridor and looked overtly around. Lily glared at him from the crook of the armour’s elbow. He waved his arms out to show off the empty corridor.

“No one’s here,” he said.

Reluctantly, Lily crept out from her hiding place. She copied Sirius and looked around, though a little more subtly than he had done. Judging by the satisfied look on her face, she hadn’t spotted Snape waiting to jump out at her. The two of them set off down the corridor, Sirius keeping his eyes peeled for Remus and Lily keeping hers peeled for Snape.

“Why are you avoiding Snivellus?” Sirius asked as they rounded the corner.

“He’s going to ask me to Hogsmeade for Valentine’s day,” Lily sighed.

“You went with him last month.”

Lily stared at him, “How do you know that?”

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but my best mate has a teeny tiny crush on you and likes to know what you’re doing, and with who, at all times.”

Lily let out a little giggle and Sirius was so bemused by this that he forgot what exactly he’d been going to say. He peered at her out of the corner of his eye. Since when did Lily giggle at things James did?

“It’s nothing serious,” Sirius said, watching her for her reaction, “he just wants to have your kids.”

“Wait, he wants to have my kids?” Lily asked with a confused laugh.

“Oh yeah, if he could find a way to be impregnated by you, he would.”

“Is this supposed to make me like James more or less?”

Sirius shrugged, “I’m just speaking the truth, do with that what you may.”

Their conversation was interrupted briefly when Lily had to scold a pair of Hufflepuff first years and send them back to their dorm. While she told them off and threatened to take house points next time she caught them, Sirius gave them a reassuring thumbs up behind her back. They scampered off towards their dorm room.

“Anyway, why were you wandering the corridors talking to yourself?” Lily asked.

“I wasn’t talking to myself,” Sirius protested, “Was I?”

“You were. Now come on, I shared my secret, your turn.”

“Hey, that’s on you, you didn’t have to tell me about Snivellus.”

“You’re really not going to tell me?”

“Nope.”

They continued in silence. Sirius could feel Lily’s eyes on him but he refused to look at her. He wasn’t about to give away his reason for being here. Not even James knew the real reason he was out here. He’d told some lie about needing the cloak off Remus as he’d left the dorm and James, struggling with his Herbology homework, had waved him off without a second glance.

Before the two of them reached the end of the corridor, they were startled by a surprised gasp. Seemingly out of nowhere Leopold Philips, the Ravenclaw Head Boy, appeared. Remus’s new boyfriend blinked at Sirius and Lily as though it was every day he appeared out of thin air.

“Rounds going okay?” he asked Lily, eyeing the lack of prefect badge on Sirius’s robes.

“Stopped a couple of Hufflepuffs. I found Sirius wandering the corridors so I’m escorting him back to the dorms,” Lily said.

Sirius nodded as though Lily had any control over where he wanted to go. He wouldn’t put it past Leo to dock Sirius house points even though he was best friends with his boyfriend.

“Where’s Moony?” Sirius asked.

Leo’s eyes did a little dart to the right and Sirius followed his gaze, ignoring Leo when he said, “I don’t know.”

Sirius looked closely at the space to Leo’s right. He’d been using the invisibility cloak with James since first year. By now, he felt he had a pretty good grasp on how to spot it. A vague shimmer, so faint it would be incredibly easy to skip over, hovered in front of the portrait of a sleeping noblewoman.

“Really?” Sirius asked Leo, continuing to stare at the shimmer, “So, he’s not hiding under the cloak right here?”

Before anyone could stop him, Sirius reached forward and yanked the cloak away. Remus appeared looking faintly amused with a smirk and the warm glow of a blush on his cheeks. His hair was mussed up, his robes were shabbier than usual. Sirius’s worst suspicions were confirmed, he had just interrupted a snogging session between Remus and Leo.

“Hey Padfoot,” Remus said, straightening up now he’d been caught.

“Moony.”

“One of these days you’re going to have to explain that nickname,” Leo said.

Remus looked at him for an extended moment and finally said, “I suppose I will.”

Sirius, cloak in hand, stepped back to join Lily. Even though this had been his aim, he didn’t feel great doing it. He’d wanted to see whether Remus really was sneaking around the castle snogging his boyfriend and it was true. Sirius wished he’d stuck to the rumours instead of hunting out the truth. He wanted to kick himself. Remus and Leo had been together for a month now, of course they were going to be snogging.

“Paying attention to your rounds you two?” Lily asked with a smile evident in her voice.

“Something like that,” Leo said smugly.

Sirius tried not to bristle.

“What are you doing out, Sirius?” Remus asked.

“I was looking for the cloak, I’ll have you know. Prongs is pissed _someone_ stole it.”

“ _I_ didn’t steal it from him, you did. I just took it off you before you could use it.”

“Sneaky, but still stealing. I thought better of you,” Sirius shook his head in mock disappointment.

Leo tucked impatiently at Remus’s cloak and Sirius looked away before his scowl could take over his face. Leo said, “C’mon Remus, let’s go, uh, check the Astronomy Tower’s clear.”

Remus didn’t meet anyone’s gaze as he cast an apologetic glance in Lily and Sirius’s direction. For a brief moment, Sirius allowed himself to indulge in a fantasy where Remus would refuse to go to the Astronomy Tower with Leo and instead throw himself into Sirius’s arms. Unfortunately, Remus didn’t protest at being dragged away. In fact, he was going quite willingly.

“Careful, I hear Mrs. Norris has a snogging sensor!” Sirius called after them before he could stop himself.

Remus turned to look at him as he walked backwards, “Don’t make me dock you house points, Padfoot.”

Sirius watched the two of them disappear. Unbidden, thoughts of the Astronomy Tower’s expansive view rose into Sirius’s mind. How romantic to be snogging Remus under starlight. He scowled at his shoes, annoyed at his own thoughts.

Seemingly oblivious, Lily nudged Sirius’s shoulder and the two of them headed off in the opposite direction. Sirius became aware that he really was being escorted back to Gryffindor tower, he’d been too distracted to notice.

“I hate that guy,” Sirius muttered, mostly to himself.

“Remus?” Lily asked. Sirius turned to glare at her and found her grinning. With a laugh, she said, “What’s wrong with Leo? Remus is very into him.”

“Yes, I saw, unfortunately.”

Sirius pulled Lily into a shortcut behind one of the tapestries when they heard the wheezing grunt of Filch. He wouldn’t punish Lily since she was a prefect but Sirius already had detention with McGonagall this week, he didn’t want any more.

“Well, what’s up with him?” Lily pressed, quieter in the dark shortcut just in case Filch could hear them. “They’re a good match. I’m glad he’s dating someone, at last, even Peter had a girlfriend last year.”

“And that lasted all of three weeks.”

“Says you! How long have any of your boyfriends lasted? What was the longest one? Oscar Baker for a month?”

“I get bored easily,” Sirius waved a hand dismissively.

“I’ve noticed,” Lily said. She climbed behind another tapestry and they emerged onto a different corridor, closer to Gryffindor Tower now. “You still haven’t told me what’s wrong with Leo.”

“I just think he’s… a dick.”

“Thoroughly summarised.”

He could feel Lily’s eyes on him once again, and he fought to keep his expression bored. Even as thoughts of the Astronomy Tower and Leo’s impatient hands rose again into his mind. She watched him all the way along the corridor. Before they reached the Grand Staircase, she gasped.

“Oh my god,” she said.

“What?” Sirius asked. He slowed to a halt when he realised Lily had stopped a good few paces behind him. “C’mon Evans, if I get caught by Filch again he really will string me up by my ankles.”

“I’m an idiot!” Lily slapped a hand to her forehead.

“Okay?”

“At Christmas you set my mistletoe on fire.”

“Really?” Sirius demanded. He looked around for Filch and closed the gap between them, “You’re still upset about that? Bloody hell, it’s February, and I apologised!”

“No you didn’t. But that’s not the point, that mistletoe was charmed to float between someone and the person they had a crush on.”

Sirius felt suddenly hot under her gaze and looked away. He kicked a fallen quill across the floor, “So?”

“And Oscar told me you dumped him because there was someone else.”

Sirius narrowed his eyes at her, “How do you know that?”

“And just now, you said you hate Leo.” She slapped her forehead again. “Oh Merlin, you have a crush on-”

Sirius clapped a hand to her mouth, forcing the words to stay inside. He looked over his shoulder, dreading the sight of Leo and Remus wandering down the corridors. He pushed Lily back into the wall, just in case someone came. She looked at him with wide eyes full of accusing realisation. He wasn’t sure why James waxed poetic about these eyes, to Sirius they just seemed far too knowledgeable.

“Don’t say it,” Sirius said quietly.

He gently released Lily and she copied his low volume, “But you do, don’t you? That’s why you burnt the mistletoe, that’s why you dumped Oscar. That’s why you hate Leo!”

“Okay,” Sirius relented, “Well done, you figured it out.”

“You were slinking around the corridors to interrupt them on purpose, weren’t you?”

“I wasn’t slinking.”

“But that’s why you’re here, isn’t it? It wasn’t about the cloak.”

“Merlin, you really are smart,” Sirius said. He regretted running into Lily now. He should’ve stayed in the dorm and pranked some first years instead.

“I knew it,” Lily said, triumphantly. “I knew you two were into each other. Ever since Halloween when you were drunk on firewhisky and-”

Sirius covered her mouth again. He leaned his face closer to hers threateningly.

“I thought we, as a group, decided to never mention that firewhisky again.” Lily peeled her hand off his mouth but Sirius didn’t move away, “And if I recall correctly, Evans, I wasn’t the only one who got a little… carried away after a few shots.”

They stared at each other for a long moment. Sirius wordlessly dared her to keep talking and Lily frowned at him but didn’t press the point.

“Fine, firewhisky aside, the point still stands.”

“Who’s there?” Bertha Jorkins’ voice called to them.

In a panic, Sirius threw the cloak over himself but it was too late, he was sure Bertha had seen him. Lily straightened herself up as though she’d been caught doing something dirty.

“Who was that?” Bertha asked, aiming her wand at the space Sirius had just disappeared from. He backed away from Lily just in case.

“No one, what’s up?” Lily asked.

“I thought I heard voices,” Bertha said, sweeping her eyes over the seemingly empty corridor.

“I was… singing,” Lily lied, “I’m auditioning for the frog choir so I was singing to myself.”

Sirius couldn’t help his snort and Bertha’s eyes looked to the space he was in. She clearly didn’t believe Lily’s lie.

“Right, I’ll leave you to _your practise,_ ” Bertha nodded knowingly, “Just to let you know, Lupin and Philips are, uh, auditioning for the choir in the Astro Tower, so I’d avoid that way.”

Lily flushed and dropped her gaze, “Thanks.”

Bertha winked, “No problem. Everyone’s at it apparently. Must be the Valentine’s Hogsmeade trip coming up. See you Lily and… see you whoever’s auditioning with Lily.”

She left giggling and Lily covered her face embarrassed. When he was sure Bertha wouldn’t return to catch them in the act, Sirius emerged from the invisibility cloak.

“Bertha Jorkins, biggest gossip in school,” Lily said.

“She didn’t see it was me, believe me. She’d have had a field day if she thought me and you were snogging, what with me being James’s best mate and all.”

“Silver lining, at least.”

“What? You don’t want to make out with me?”

“Come on, before Filch finds you,” Lily lead the way back to Gryffindor Tower, careful to keep an eye out for Bertha Jorkins.


	2. Chapter 2

Remus sat down next to Sirius at breakfast and grabbed some toast. James suddenly leant over the table and pried Remus’s robes away from his neck. Remus yelped and fought him off. A brief tussle ensued over the pancakes before Remus managed to free himself. He readjusted his clothes hastily.

“What the hell, Prongs?”

“I was checking for love bites,” James snickered.

“Mature,” Remus said, “I take it Padfoot told you about last night?”

Sirius shrugged and through a mouthful of bacon, he said, “I didn’t think you were keeping it a secret.”

“I wasn’t, I just, well, we don’t need to-”

“Aw Moony, you’re blushing,” James said, sweetly.

Remus chucked a sausage at his face, “Shut up, Prongs.”

“What happened last night?” Peter asked, looking up from his eggs for the first time.

“Moony was snogging his boyfriend all over the castle,” James sing-songed, miming making out with an invisible person. Sirius snorted and Peter laughed, though he didn’t look any less confused.

Remus glowered at him but he knew there was no point arguing with James, he would just mock Remus even louder. Instead he accepted the Daily Prophet that was delivered to him and buried his warm face behind it. Before long, James lost interest in bantering Remus and turned to Sirius to discuss the Potions homework neither of them had finished yet.

“Moony,” James said as the food disappeared and students began to rise from their seats. Remus hummed in response, reading a story about a muggle that had accidentally used a magical broom to clean their chimney. “Is it just me or is Hettie Wood staring at you?”

Remus looked up from his paper and down the table in the direction James nodded. He spotted Lily and Marlene chatting away opposite Hettie who was indeed staring at Remus. He blinked at her and she looked away quickly.

“Um, I guess?” Remus said.

“Bloody hell, you’re popular, Moony,” Sirius said. He stood up and hoisted his bag over his shoulder, “Next you’ll be snogging Hettie in the Astro Tower.”

“Shut up, Padfoot.”

He followed his friends out of the Great Hall and towards the Herbology Greenhouses. Before he was halfway out of the hall, Leo had appeared by his side. He plucked Remus away from James, Sirius, and Peter, who walked off cooing and wooing like a group of old ladies.

“Were you just going to leave without saying good morning?” Leo asked, his pearly white teeth sparkling in his smile.

Remus smiled back at him, “I didn’t see you. I’m going to be late to class.”

“One kiss won’t make you late.”

Leo leaned forward and kissed Remus. He pulled away, flashed him a wink, and jogged off to join his Ravenclaw friends. Remus walked to the Greenhouses before Sprout could call him late. He leaned against James, Sirius, and Peter’s workbench.

“Have fun?” Sirius asked. His tone was joking but there was something unreadable about his face.

Before Remus could reply, Sprout set them to work extracting Snargaluff pods which didn’t give them much chance to chat.

After Herbology, they had a free period which James used to practise Quidditch. Sirius went with him under the guise of studying for Defence Against the Dark Arts, but Remus knew he would just be cheering James on from the stands. Peter had Divination homework and Remus was swept up by Leo before he could decide which subject to study.

“Do you ever study?” Remus asked Leo as they settled onto a bench in the courtyard.

He gave a lazy shrug which reminded Remus of Sirius, “Sometimes.”

That was all Remus got to say before his mouth was otherwise occupied.

At lunch, James asked, “How are things going with Leo, anyway?”

Sirius looked up from his sandwich, interested by the answer too.

Remus gave them both a shrug, “I don’t know, good?”

“You don’t sound sure,” James observed.

“Well, it’s, erm…” Remus wasn’t sure when he’d lost the ability to speak in a full sentence. He cleared his throat, “I’d like to occasionally do things other than, erm, snogging.”

James roared with laughter and Sirius became wholly fascinated by the contents of his sandwich. Remus regretted sharing his thoughts as his cheeks warmed up. Even Peter looked rather amused.

“Sorry, sorry,” James said, trying to quell his laughter, “I wasn’t expecting that answer. I take it that’s how you’ll be spending your Hogsmeade trip?”

“I suppose there will be a lot of erm… yes,” Remus said.

“I think I’ll skip this one then, I’m not sure my stomach could take it,” Sirius muttered, prising a slice of ham off his sandwich and dropping it wetly onto his plate.

“Says you, Padfoot. I don’t think I’m alone when I say I got tired of running into you and Oscar in October,” James said, pointing his fork at Sirius.

“It’s not my fault we all know the same shortcuts. You should’ve checked the map first,” Sirius said.

Remus had to agree with James. It had gotten a little exhausting to pull back tapestries on the way to class only to find Sirius and Oscar writhing like a couple of Tentacular tentacles. Not least because the sight had made him question things he didn’t want to question. Things like what did it feel like to run his hands through Sirius’s hair, and would Sirius ever kiss him as deeply as he kissed Oscar?

Guiltily, Remus looked over to the Ravenclaw table where Leo was laughing along with his friends. It was okay, Remus had gotten over his feelings for Sirius when he met Leo. Seventh year, Ravenclaw Head Boy, and excellent at Defence Against the Dark Arts, Leo was great for Remus.

“Moony?” Peter asked bringing Remus out of his head.

“What?”

“Can I borrow your Defence homework?”

“No, Peter, you’re all still banned after last year’s Transfiguration disaster.”

“We all still passed, didn’t we?” Peter grumbled.

“No, Wormtail, we didn’t. We all got detention!”

“And Moony can’t get detention now he’s dating a Head Boy,” James said sagely.

“We can’t get detention because it’s not a good thing to do. Unlike you and Padfoot, I don’t aim to have the most detentions of any Hogwarts student in history.”

“Well, you’re not very ambitious then, are you?”

* * *

That evening, Remus found Sirius fast asleep in an armchair in the common room. He had his arms loosely folded over his chest, his mouth hanging open as his head flopped back. Remus sat in a chair nearby and watched him for a moment. He still looked handsome, even as he snored.

Remus picked up a balled up piece of parchment and chucked it at Sirius. It missed his mouth but bounced off the tip of his nose. Sirius startled awake.

“Wha-” he gasped. His eyes found Remus and he grumbled, “What’d you wake me up for? I was having a great dream.”

“About what?”

“About…” Sirius looked at Remus for a beat longer and finished, “Things.”

“Sounds specific.”

“Why did you wake me up?” Sirius demanded again.

“Wanna come to the jackalope pen with me?”

Sirius screwed his face up in confusion. He stretched his arms high above his head, arching his back. He stretched deeply and luxuriously before flopping loosely back to the armchair.

He asked, “What?”

Remus rolled his eyes, talking to Sirius when he’d just woken up was like talking to a very confused toddler.

“Do you want to come to the jackalope pen with me? My jackalope needs caring for and you’re good at Care of Magical Creatures.”

“Sorry, could you repeat that last bit?”

“I said you’re good at Care of Magical Creatures.”

Sirius grinned at him, “No, I think you said something else.”

Remus rolled his eyes again, “Fine, you’re better than me at Care of Magical Creatures. But in my defence,” Remus glanced over his shoulder to check no one was listening and lowered his voice anyway, “I stink like a werewolf.”

“Yes, Moony, I will help you because without my help I’m sure you’d fail miserably.”

As they left the common room, they ran into Lily coming back from the library. She eyed them suspiciously.

“And where are you two off to at this late hour?”

“Lily, I’m a prefect too, I don’t have to answer to you,” Remus said.

“He does,” Lily pointed at Sirius almost accusingly.

“We’re off to make mischief,” Sirius said dryly.

“If you’re planning another prank, can it wait until after Hogsmeade, please?”

Sirius tilted his head at her like a dog that had misheard a command, “Got big plans?”

“Maybe. Have you?”

“No.”

“Are you sure? I thought there was someone you wanted to ask,” Lily said, feigning innocence. Remus looked between the two of them with interest. This was the first he’d heard about Sirius wanting to take someone to Hogsmeade for Valentine’s Day and judging by the scowl on Sirius’s face, Lily was speaking the truth.

“You thought wrong,” Sirius said, stiffly.

“We’re just going to feed my jackalope, it’s struggling.”

It was Remus’s turn to meet Lily’s knowledgable stare. Her eyebrows inched together, confused, “Really? Last I saw, it looked healthy and happy.”

Remus hesitated for the tiniest moment, but he knew Sirius had noticed. He cleared his throat and hurried on, “You must’ve looked at the wrong one.”

Lily looked between the two of them again, as though searching for some invisible crime she could accuse them of. When nothing appeared, she smiled sweetly and said, “I guess so. Don’t stay out past curfew.”

She eased past them and disappeared into the dorm.

“She’s a suspicious person, that Evans,” Sirius said.

Remus hummed in agreement. He was still thinking about who Sirius might ask to Hogsmeade, and why the thought of this made his insides curdle.

Down at the jackalope pen, Remus winced when his jackalope bounded excitedly over to him. Sirius leaned his forearms on the top of the pen, leaning down to see the antlered rabbit-type creature. Remus risked a glance at him and saw Sirius was thinking deeply about something as he poured a scoop of pellet food into the grass.

“See, it’s so weedy and weak,” Remus said, even as his jackalope did four ecstatic jumps at the presence of food.

Sirius leaned back and arched an eyebrow at Remus. They were close to each other to allow them both to see into the pen. In the dying light of the setting sun, Remus thought Sirius’s grey eyes were clear enough to see his own panicked expression reflected back at him. He looked away from that penetrating gaze and back to his happy little creature, as healthy as any other.

He decided to confess. It would all seem less weird if he explained.

He hoped.

“The truth is, I brought you down here because…” Remus had made the mistake of turning back to face Sirius’s strong gaze. The words were all queued up but they just wouldn’t come out. He forced himself to look away from Sirius’s handsome, daunting face.

“We haven’t spent much time together this year,” he said, leaning over his pen under the guise of letting his jackalope sniff his hand.

“I see you everyday.”

“I know but… not… like…” Remus was experiencing the recently familiar feeling of being speechless. Where had his ability to speak disappeared to? He let out a sigh, “Nevermind.”

He’d been going to say they hadn’t spent much time together, alone. Sure, they saw each other everyday but someone else was always there. If it wasn’t James or Peter, it was Lily or Leo. He liked those other people, obviously, but he missed spending time with Sirius. He spent time with James when they illegally practised duelling, he spent time with Peter when James and Sirius were in detention, he walked his prefect rounds with Lily, he spent 80% of his time alone with Leo.

But he’d barely spent time with Sirius this year. He missed messing around with him, joking about James being madly in love with Lily or Peter being madly in love with James. He wanted to voice all of this but he didn’t know how to say it without sounding sappy.

Even the firewhisky situation of Halloween had involved Lily and James.

At this thought, heat rushed into Remus’s face and he focused his attention on gently stroking the ear of his jackalope.

“See? You don’t stink,” Sirius said softly, changing the subject.

“No, I’m pretty sure he’s only letting me pet him because you’re here. He can sense you’re ninety percent dog.”

“Now you’re saying I stink?”

“Well…” Remus didn’t deny it.

“Hey! I rolled in a patch of grass the other day. My fur still smells clean, see.”

Sirius turned into Padfoot in one swift transformation. Where handsome Sirius Black had once stood, now stood a rather large, shaggy, black dog. The dog pawed at his nose and sniffed. He wagged his tail and Remus couldn’t help but laugh. Padfoot caught sight of his wagging tail and let out a growl, he rushed around and around in circles trying to catch it. Remus laughed harder, it was insane how much Sirius suited being a dog.

Remus picked up a stick and waved it front of Padfoot’s face. The dog eyed it with a keen focus that would never dare grace Sirius’s human face. Remus threw the stick and Padfoot launched himself after it. He caught it expertly and returned it to Remus’s feet. Remus threw the stick again. As he watched Padfoot leap higher than any dog should be able to leap, Remus realised it was this kind of moment he’d been missing.

Remus threw the stick again, and this time it went further than before. Padfoot raced after it, disappearing into the darkening grounds.

“Remus!” Leo called from the direction of the castle.

Remus jumped like he’d been caught red-handed committing a crime. His smile faltered before he could catch it. He fixed it back on quickly and turned to Leo.

“Leo,” he said.

Before he could say anything or look at where Padfoot had gotten to, he was swept into a rather handsy kiss. He pulled away a tad too quickly and saw Padfoot walking back towards them, looking rather dejected. Remus shook his head. Padfoot couldn’t look dejected, he was a dog. He was upset because he hadn’t found his stick, that was all.

Leo followed Remus’s gaze and gave a shout of fright, “Th-that’s a dog!”

“It’s friendly,” Remus reassured.

As though in defiance of what Remus had said, Padfoot let out a deep growl, advancing on Leo.

“ _It’s friendly_ ,” Remus repeated pointedly.

Padfoot stopped growling but his tail didn’t wag either.

“I didn’t see it in the dark,” Leo said, looking around as though he expected a pack of dogs to appear. “Why are you hanging out with a dog? Who’s dog is this?”

“I’m not hanging out with a dog, that’s insane,” Remus said quickly.

Padfoot let out a bark that sounded like a laugh and made Leo jump.

“I was checking on my jackalope and he came over,” Remus looked for an explanation. He saw one by the glow of a hut in the distance, “Hagrid has a dog.”

Leo’s face relaxed, “Oh yeah. Hagrid does have a dog. I heard it’s a bit of a coward.”

A low rumble came from Padfoot, who was pawing at the ground, looking rather irritable for a dog.

“Don’t say that,” Remus scolded.

“What? It can’t understand me. Anyway, now that I’ve found you, do you want to help me study?”

It was clear by his expression, and the lascivious tone in his voice, that Leo’s version of studying was not the same as Remus’s. Padfoot had looked up from whatever he’d been pawing at, and now watched Remus and Leo with an expression that was impossible to read on his dog face.

“I need to feed my jackalope,” Remus said.

“Meh, it looks fine to me, come on,” Leo seized a hold of Remus and dragged him forcefully away from the jackalope and Sirius.

Remus looked back over his shoulder to see Padfoot sat alone on the ground, his unreadable black gaze fixed directly on him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for all the kudos and lovely comments!


	3. Chapter 3

Sirius stormed into the dorm room. He tossed his wand at his bedside table, ignoring the protest of sparks it released, and flopped onto his bed gloomily. He was in a bad mood. It was like a stormcloud of Remus making out with Leo was hanging darkly over his head, insistent on drowning him.

“Padfoot?” James asked.

Sirius sat up and spotted James peeking out through the hangings around his own bed. His frown matched the one on Sirius’s face.

“Prongs? What are you doing in here?”

“Moping,” James said simply. He disappeared back behind his hangings and Sirius heard the familiar sound of someone throwing themselves despondently onto their bed. Sirius followed suit, dropping onto his back on his own bed.

“About what?”

James gave a deep sigh, “Apparently Lily was seen snogging someone the other day.”

“Ah shit, sorry mate.”

“It’s fine,” James said, sounding like it was anything but. “I always knew she didn’t like me. One of those 800 rejections had to stick, right?”

“I always kind of thought… It doesn’t matter, sorry, mate.”

“Yeah, I was going to ask her to Hogsmeade this weekend but I already know the answer.” There was a shuffle from James’s bed and Sirius imagined him peeking out through the hangings again, “What are you doing in here?”

Sirius heaved out a sigh deep enough to rival James’s, “The same. The person I like likes someone else. A lot, apparently.”

“Ouch, sorry Pads,” James said. As though he couldn’t resist, he added, “Who do you like?”

“It doesn’t matter, does it?”

“No, I guess it doesn’t.”

The two of them let out long, deep sighs like the world was weighing heavy on their chests. Sirius couldn’t stop seeing Remus wrapped in Leo’s arms. It didn’t help that Leo was good looking. If he was hideous, he’d be much easier to hate. Or if Remus wasn’t as into the relationship as he clearly was, Sirius would have an easier time being against it.

“You know what this means though?” James said. “Neither of us is going to Hogsmeade this weekend so we might as well get detention.”

Sirius sat up and poked his head through the hangings. James was doing the same, a mischievous grin on his face.

“What are you thinking?” Sirius asked.

James thought aloud, “We still have those fanged frisbees.”

“I thought you were saving those for a special occasion.”

“What’s more special than this? Two broken hearts and a Valentine’s Day to ruin.”

“I like the way you think Prongs, I’m in.”

Later, when Sirius was lying awake unable to sleep, he heard the dorm room door open. The door closed with a quiet click and footsteps crossed the room. Instead of heading to the only empty bed in the room, they stopped at the side of Sirius’s bed. Sirius was careful not to make a sound as he lay still.

“Padfoot?” Remus whispered, barely louder than a breath in the quiet dorm room.

Sirius remained still. He fought to keep his breathing low and even.

“Padfoot? You up?”

When Sirius still didn’t reply, Remus gave up. There was a tiny pause, and his quiet footsteps crept back to his bed.

* * *

The next morning, Sirius took as long as he could getting dressed. Remus, James, and Peter lingered at the door for him, but when it took him almost twenty minutes to tie one shoe, James sighed impatiently and loped off. Peter ran after him and Remus waited for another five minutes before he, too, got bored and left. Sirius finished getting dressed alone. He wouldn’t have minded walking down to breakfast with James and Peter, but he couldn’t stand to see the good morning kiss between Remus and Leo.

After last evening’s events, Sirius vowed to steer clear of Remus and Leo as much as possible. If that meant using the Map every time he needed to navigate to the bathroom, so be it.

On his way down to the common room, Lily emerged from the girl’s dorm rooms.

“Morning,” Sirius said. He eyed her intently, searching for some sign of the guy she’d been snogging.

She pulled a face at his intense search, “Morning.”

“Snivellus asked you to Hogsmeade yet?” Sirius asked as they made their way towards the Great Hall.

“No, thank Merlin.”

“Has anyone else asked? Got any plans?” Sirius peered at her face for any sign of a secret.

She arched an eyebrow at him, “Sirius, are you asking me out?”

“Merlin, no.”

“Then stop being weird. Anyway, I’ve been meaning to ask you something.” She pressed closer to him to lower her voice amongst the shouting and hearty greetings of the other students on their way to breakfast. “When did you know you were in love with… you know?”

“Whoa, slow your roll, Evans, I’m not _in love_ with him. I’m not bloody Prongs, I don’t fall in love with the first pretty face I see. I just think he’s… great.”

Sirius cringed at his use of the word great, and it was only made worse when Lily snickered. Remus was many things and great didn’t begin to cover it.

“Well, you’re not the only one that thinks he’s _great._ ”

“What do you mean?” Sirius asked sharply. Surely there was not more competition standing between him and Remus. It was bad enough to see Leo as competition, Sirius wasn’t sure he’d win against him and more people just lowered his odds.

“Okay, I’m going to tell you something because due to these strange, unprecedented times, I find myself feeling sorry for you.”

“I’m not sure whether to take that as an insult.”

“For the longest time, you and James were kind of the hottest guys in our year.”

“I’m sorry?” Sirius stopped abruptly on the staircase, causing a chain reaction behind him when a second year had to slam to a halt to avoid crashing into Sirius and ended up crushed under a pile of other students. Lily turned to try to sort through the chaos but Sirius stopped her, “Hang on, did you just say I’m hot?”

A pale pink colour rose in Lily’s cheeks, “Objectively, sure.”

“Hey! Did everyone hear that? Lily Evans thinks I, Sirius Black, am hot!” Sirius called to the crushed mass of students still trying to free themselves from the gridlock behind him. “Tell your friends, people, Lily Evans thinks Sirius Black is-”

“Will you shut up?” Lily hissed, “I already have enough rumours floating around about me.”

“But you did say I was hot.”

“I was trying to say that _objectively_ you might be hot, but then you open your mouth and it kind of ruins everything.”

“I’ll take it,” Sirius shrugged, and they continued on their way down the stairs.

“Then, I don’t know, sometime over summer, something changed. More specifically, Remus changed.”

“Changed how?” Sirius asked. As far as he was concerned, Remus hadn’t changed one bit. In fact, Sirius had spent most of the summer with him, James, and Peter, he hadn’t noticed any changes.

“Oh Sirius,” Lily shook her head exasperatedly, “You can’t tell me you haven’t noticed. Hettie’s practically drooling over him in Defence, Marlene thinks he’s got a certain mysterious vibe about him. And hell, even I think-”

“You think Moony’s hot?” Sirius was so horrified he forgot to keep his voice down. He couldn’t wrap his head around this information. He’d always thought Remus was attractive, it was far too weird to be in agreement with Lily over something like this.

“Keep your bloody voice down!”

“Are you saying Remus is hotter than me?”

“I don’t rank you!” Lily said, offended, “I’m just repeating what I’ve heard, and I’ve heard a lot about Remus this past year. He looks like he’d be such an attentive-”

“For the love of Merlin, do not finish that sentence!” Sirius cut her off. He felt like he’d crossed into some insane new world overnight. “Don’t go getting all moon-eyed over Moony, he’s mine.”

“That’s the problem though isn’t it, Sirius? He’s not yours.”

Outside the Great Hall, Sirius pulled Lily away from the double doors before she could go in. They ducked to the side to let the stream of students pass them.

“So you’re telling me that half the bloody school wants into Remus’s pants and I’m just part of the crowd?”

“No, of course not. My point is you’re not the only one who’s interested in him, and like Hettie and Marlene and whoever else wants _into his pants,_ ” Lily shuddered at the repetition of Sirius’s words, “you haven’t got a chance unless you do something about it.”

“He has a boyfriend, Lily.”

“Is he happy though?”

Before Sirius could ask what on earth she was talking about, Lily turned and joined the crowd streaming into the Great Hall. He lost her in a sea of matching robes and hungry faces. Sirius decided he was no longer hungry. He had a lot to think about. He mulled on Lily’s words as he headed for the Potion’s classroom.

Was Remus happy? Sirius thought so. He’d returned from his hunt for the stick last evening to see him wrapped up rather tightly in Leo’s arms. Sure, he’d complained about the constant snogging yesterday, but it hadn’t felt sincere. If Remus was missing conversation that much, he could talk to anyone.

Remus was happy, Sirius decided. If he wasn’t, he wasn’t the kind of person to put up with something he didn’t like, as he’d proven by banning them all from copying his homework. Lily was just playing matchmaker and badly.

Slughorn walked down the corridor after his breakfast and saw Sirius. Through a grimace, Sirius allowed his hand to be shaken in greeting.

“Sirius, have you heard anything from your cousin Antares Black, the famous Herbologist?”

“Second cousin twice removed, Professor,” Sirius corrected for what felt like the four hundredth time this year, “And no. I don’t talk to my family anymore.”

“My boy, there are dozens of great witches and wizards in your lineage you should keep in touch, you never know when they may come in handy,” Slughorn said.

Sirius really tried to keep his face even when he said, “I don’t think many people in my lineage would be interested in helping me, Sir. What with being a traitor to my heritage and all.”

Slughorn looked greatly uncomfortable all of a sudden. He was saved from having to pretend Sirius was interesting beyond his blood relations by James, who rounded the corner just then with Remus and Peter.

“Ah! James Potter!” Slughorn called excitedly. He bumbled past Sirius and seized James’s hand, shaking it so energetically James staggered slightly. “You’ll thank your father for the gift basket of Sleekeazy’s Hair Potion, won’t you?”

“Of course, Professor,” James said, freeing his hand and giving his wrist a little shake to get the feeling back.

“You know, my boy, you could do with a tub or two occasionally,” Slughorn winked.

James laughed and mussed up his hair even more, “It’s not my style, Professor.”

“Oh, Potter’s talking about his hair again, what a surprise,” Lily said.

Slughorn looked like his heart was about to burst, “And there she is! My prize pearl, star pupil, Lily Evans.”

Sirius gagged exaggeratedly and Remus smirked. James rolled his eyes as Slughorn fawned over Lily, even though it was what James had done on an almost daily basis for the past six years.

“Madam Pomfrey found your Potion for Dreamless Sleep exceptional,” Slughorn complimented.

“It was nothing, Professor.”

“Well done, Lily,” Snape said, appearing like a vampire out of the darkness.

“And my second star pupil,” Slughorn chuckled, “Oh yes, Severus, you’ve been usurped.”

James nudged Sirius’s shoulder, and the four of them walked into the classroom. They sat by their usual workbench and set out their cauldrons. They could still hear Slughorn shouting about Lily and Snape’s achievements.

“Padfoot,” James said, spinning his wand between his fingers in an attempt to look casual, even as his face wrinkled with thought, “You don’t think the person Lily was snogging was Snivellus, do you?”

“Fuck no,” Sirius said.

“What’s this about Lily?” Remus asked, flicking absent-mindedly through his Potions book. He looked like he was thinking hard, only half paying attention to them.

“I heard a rumour she was snogging someone the other day,” James explained. Remus looked up and offered his apologies but James just shrugged. He clapped a hand to Sirius’s shoulder, “It’s okay, at least I’m not alone in the heartbreak hotel.”

Remus turned sharply to look at Sirius, “You’re in the _heartbreak hotel_?”

“I wouldn’t really call it that,” Sirius shot a look at James who was smart enough to realise his mistake. He focused on organising his ingredients.

“Who broke your heart, Padfoot?” Remus asked with a smirk on his face.

“Shut up, Moony,” Sirius said, not unkindly.

“I know, I was as surprised as you. It turns out our little Sirius Black had a heart all along,” James patted Sirius’s cheek.

Sirius shoved him off, “I thought you were supposed to pity me because my heart’s broken.”

“Hey, my heart’s broken too. I only have enough pity for myself.”

The rest of the students began to file in. Every now and then Slughorn’s voice would shout someone’s name as they were greeted enthusiastically. Other students slipped in without so much as a _good morning._

“I guess it’s just me going to Hogsmeade this weekend then,” Remus said.

Peter squeaked, “Actually, I’m going too. Zainab Albi asked me, she’s a fifth year.”

“What?” James demanded, “Wormtail has a date and I don’t! What is the world coming to?”

“Prongs,” Remus scolded as Sirius laughed.

“Sorry, Wormtail. Congrats,” James leaned across the workbench and punched Peter’s arm amicably, “I’ve seen Zainab around, she’s nice.”

“Looks like it’s me and you alone on this prank, Prongsy,” Sirius said as Slughorn made his way to the front of the class.

“What prank?” Remus asked.

“Sorry, Moony,” Sirius patted his arm reassuringly, “You’ve got to be part of the heartbreak hotel to hear the details.”

Remus rolled his eyes and turned to face the front as Slughorn explained that in light of this weekend’s upcoming holiday, they’d be learning about Amortentia. Sirius vowed to breathe through his mouth for the entire lesson.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> just a little one

Lily was kneeling behind Greenhouse Four, snipping away weeds from her golden rose bush when Remus suddenly trampled through a flowerbed. He was looking over his shoulder as he staggered between the greenhouses and didn’t see Lily until he almost toppled over her.

“Lily!” he gasped, “What are you doing here?”

“Hiding,” Lily said simply. There were only two days until the Hogsmeade trip and Severus seemed intent on trapping her in the corridor. Lily had taken to sneaking around the shortcuts she knew, and focusing all her attention on whatever subject she could study far away from Snape. Today it was Herbology.

“Can I hide with you?” Remus asked.

Lily patted the kneeling pad next to her own and Remus knelt next to her. He picked up a pair of secateurs and helped her tackle the weeds.

“What are you hiding from?” he asked.

Lily sat back on her heels with a sigh, “Severus and the rumours.”

“The rumours?”

“Don’t pretend you haven’t heard them. I’m assuming that’s why Potter’s been ignoring me all week.”

“He did mention something about Marlene saying something about snogging in the corridor,” Remus said with a laugh.

“So stupid. I wasn’t even… ugh,” Lily beheaded a dandelion viciously.

“So what’s the truth?”

“It was Sirius.”

Remus almost choked on his own breath. He coughed and as he composed himself, Lily couldn’t help but smile. These two had it bad for each other, if only they would be the brave Gryffindors they were supposed to be.

“You…” Remus coughed again, “You were snogging Sirius?”

“No,” she elbowed him in the ribs and saw the subtle look of relief that crossed his face, “Gross.”

“It’s not that gross,” Remus protested. Lily arched an eyebrow at him and he turned his attention to the weeds, “I mean, there are worse people to snog.”

“I don’t know, I’m pretty Sirius is the lowest of the low.”

“Harsh,” Remus laughed, “What were you doing with Sirius if you weren’t snogging?”

“He was venting to me actually. We’ve grown quite close over the past few days.”

“Venting about what?”

“I shouldn’t say.”

“Is this about his broken heart?” Remus asked. Lily was surprised he knew about it at all. Sirius hadn’t seemed the type to confess his feelings any time soon. Remus, seeing her surprise, explained, “I only know what James has told me, which isn’t a whole lot. Just that he and Sirius are guests at the heartbreak hotel.”

Lily laughed, “Ridiculous.”

They took out the rest of the weeds and Lily left Remus momentarily to go get some plant food. As she knelt back down, she asked, “Who are you hiding from?”

Remus winced and rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably, “Is it bad if I say Leo?”

Lily grimaced, “It’s not great. Why are you hiding from him? I thought you liked him.”

“I did-” Remus caught himself and spluttered, “I do. I do. I wish he’d talk to me though, it feels like all he wants to do is…”

A blush crept up his neck that Lily identified quickly. She finished for him, “Snog you?”

“Right.”

Lily giggled and Remus looked like he’d wish the golden rose would come to life and throttle him. He looked over his shoulder at the gap between the greenhouses, as though he could see Leo stalking for him. It didn’t look like a very happy look.

“You know,” Remus said thoughtfully, turning back to Lily, “I’m having trouble picturing the kind of person that could hold Sirius’s attention long enough to break his heart.”

Lily looked over at him, lowering the bottle of plant food. He was admiring the golden rose flower thoughtfully. The sunlight reflected off the rose and onto his face, brightening his skin and adding a sparkle to his eyes. She spotted a small spray of grey in his brown hair. He kindly helped a beetle off the golden rose and onto a flower it could eat without being killed.

A faint smile appeared on Lily’s face, “I’m not.”

* * *

Lily Evans had a secret. Actually, she had two secrets but only one of them was hers. For now, she pushed the secret that wasn’t hers to the side and focused on her own secret. She was running out of time, there were only two days left until Hogsmeade and she had yet to ask her date out. That evening before dinner, Lily wandered the grounds looking for James.

She found him after a while, sat by a birch tree on the grounds. His head was bent close to Sirius’s as Sirius scribbled something down on a scrap of parchment. Remus was reading next to them, and Peter was looking confused as he sucked on the end of his quill before realising it wasn’t the sugar quill in his other hand. Lily watched them for a moment. Remus looked up from his book, said something, and Sirius turned to grin at him. They grinned at each for a long moment, before James drew Sirius’s attention once more.

She steeled herself. James had had a crush on her since second year, at least. He wouldn’t say no to her now, surely. Still, a frantic nervous energy filled her as she crossed the grounds towards them, shaking her knees. He’d barely said a word to her all week and she knew it was Bertha Jorkins’ stupid rumour that had upset him. It was ridiculous and she suspected Sirius had no idea he was supposedly the mystery man she’d been snogging, or he would’ve laughed so hard he’d have ended up in the Hospital Wing.

“Potter,” Lily called as she approached. All of them looked up at her except him. She glared at the top of his head until he looked up, folding away the parchment painfully slowly.

“Yeah?” he asked, rather blandly.

Lily wished she’d written notes to remember what she was going to say. Now she was face-to-face with Potter and his stupidly messy hair and his dumb glasses, and she couldn’t think of a single word to say. Sirius raised his eyebrows at her with a smile, coaxing her along.

“Potter, do you have plans for this weekend?”

Remus snapped his head towards James so fast he almost snapped his neck. Sirius looked like he was going to burst. Peter was staring wide-eyed between James and Lily.

“Do you? Are you going to Hogsmeade with this mystery man you’ve been snogging?” James spun his quill between his hands, his tone was light but his face was braced for pain.

“Oh for goodness sake,” Lily said, “That was Sirius.”

James turned a murderous gaze onto Sirius. He yanked his wand out. Before he could be hexed, Sirius crawled backwards rapidly. He held his hands out in front of him, surrendering before a duel even started.

“Evans, explain, quickly!” Sirius begged as James aimed his wand.

“Potter don’t hex him. Or do, I don’t really care.”

“Hey!”

“But let me finish first. Sirius and I weren’t snogging.”

“See! Prongs, put the wand down,” Sirius begged, using Remus as a human shield despite his protests.

Reluctantly, James lowered the wand but he didn’t relax his murderous glare. Lily found the whole thing reassuring. If James was still willing to hex Sirius over her, maybe his feelings hadn’t completely disappeared. Sirius was still cowering behind Remus, though Lily suspected it had less to do with the threat of a hex and more to do with the excuse of touching Remus.

“What were you doing then?” James asked.

“Chatting mostly,” Lily said and Sirius looked visibly relieved, “But you know what Bertha Jorkins is like. Listen, I’m trying to ask you out, can we stop talking about Sirius?”

James was so surprised, he forgot to look angry.

“You’re trying to ask me out?”

“Yeah, to Hogsmeade on Saturday?”

“Y-yeah, yeah, of course, yeah,” James spluttered.

“Prongs, chill,” Remus whispered.

“Yeah, I mean, I’m chill. I’m so chill. Yeah.”

Lily smiled at him, her body suddenly overwarm, “Cool. I’ll see you later.”

Before she could blush any more, Lily turned and walked back to the castle. Halfway there, she looked back over her shoulder. James looked like he’d been hit in the back of the head by a bludger. Peter was patting his arm proudly. Sirius had one arm over James’s shoulder and the other over Remus’s, who was beaming.


	5. Chapter 5

When Valentine’s Day finally rolled around, it was an unusually bright morning for February. Sirius scowled at the warm light streaming in through the dorm windows. James was whistling happily as he used his half of the two-way mirror to get his hair just right. Peter had changed his clothes four times already and was now eyeing a fifth outfit. Remus was sat on his bed catching up on homework while he waited.

“Can we go already?” Sirius asked.

“I thought you weren’t coming,” Remus said, scribbling out something on his homework.

“I’m not, I don’t want to watch Prongs mess with his hair all day.”

“It’s a bit late for that, you’ve been watching him mess with his hair for six years.”

“I’m done, I’m done,” James said hastily, as he twisted his hand through his hair once more. Reluctantly, he released the mirror. He stood to face Sirius, “How do I look?”

“Like a tosser.”

“So, no difference then?” Remus muttered.

“You know, one of these days I’m going to get better friends and then you’ll be sorry,” James said.

“Who’d want to be friends with you?” Sirius asked.

“Beats me,” Remus interjected.

“You two are really asking to be hexed,” James swiped his hand angrily through his hair. With a look of horror, he realised what he’d done. He reached for the mirror but Sirius lunged forward and snatched it first.

“NO!” He shouted, “No more hair-styling. Wormtail don’t you dare get changed again! Moony, you have all weekend to do your homework, get up.”

“You’re eager to get rid of us,” Peter said, annoyed. He dropped the jumper he’d been studying and headed to the door.

Sirius herded James and Remus to the door with him. More than once Remus feigned having forgotten something and needing to go back but Sirius just kept herding him like he was a lost little lamb. Eventually, Sirius managed to get all four of them out of the dorm room, through the corridor, and down to where McGonagall was checking permission slips.

Sirius wasn’t exactly happy to be herding his three best friends to dates while he was planning a miserable day alone, but he thought he might feel better when they were gone. He’d be happy to stop looking at Remus for a while.

Peter and James had a nervous air about them that made them both seem out-of-breath. Meanwhile, Remus looked rather uninterested in the whole charade.

“Where are you off to then, Wormtail?” James asked as they joined the queue of students at the doors. He peered over people’s heads to look for Lily.

“Zainab wants to go to Puddifoot’s,” Wormtail said as he mopped nervous sweat off his brow.

Sirius scoffed, “I can’t think of anywhere worse.”

“What about you, Moony?” James asked.

Remus shrugged. Like James, he was peering around for his date. “We’ll probably just wander.” He looked back to James, “You? Where’ve you decided to take Lily?”

“I don’t know,” James said, his foot tapping out a shaky beat, “I was thinking the Three Broomsticks, but is that too cliché? Everyone will be there but Puddifoot’s is just too cringe. No offence, Wormtail.”

Peter hadn’t been listening. Sirius followed his frozen gaze to find a pretty fifth year girl, waving him over. Peter made no move to go to her, his legs seemed rooted to the spot.

Sirius shoved him in the shoulder, “Go! Don’t make me use _Imperio._ ”

“Could you? You’d probably do better on the date,” Peter whispered.

Sirius gave him another shove and his legs finally seemed to start working. He staggered his way over to Zainab who, for some reason Sirius couldn’t fathom, looked wholly happy to see him.

Remus waved to someone and Sirius guessed he’d just found Leo. Before Remus made a move to join him, he turned to Sirius.

“You could still come to Hogsmeade. Go to Honeydukes and refill our stock.”

“On my own? While literally all of my friends are on dates? I’ll pass.”

Remus tilted his mouth in disappointment but he didn’t argue any further. Instead, he pushed through the crowd until he reached Leo. Much like Zainab, Leo looked ecstatic to see his Valentine’s date. He wrapped Remus into a hug. When they broke apart, Remus’s disappointment at Sirius’s absence was nowhere to be found on his smiling face.

Sirius stared at his shoes.

“Oh shit, here she comes,” James said, “How does my hair look?”

“How it’s looked every day since I’ve known you. It’s a mess.”

James didn’t manage to ask if it was a good mess – and Sirius knew that was exactly what he’d been going to ask – before Lily joined them, an embarrassed smile on her face. Sirius caught a whiff of flowery perfume and tried his absolute hardest to contain his eye-roll.

“I’ll leave you to it then,” Sirius said.

“No, wait,” James said at the same time Lily said, “You don’t have to go.”

Sirius turned back to them, “If this a threeway type thing, can we at least agree I’m the little spoon?”

“It’s not- Shut up, Padfoot.”

“You’re not coming to Hogsmeade?” Lily asked before Sirius could make a retort about sharing a butterbeer three ways.

“Considering the person I want to go with is going with someone else, I will pass,” Sirius gave Lily a meaningful look.

“You could still go,” Lily said, “I know lots of people going that don’t have dates.”

“So I’ll be with the other losers? Great.”

“They’re not losers. You could try to convince Madam Rosmerta to sell you firewhisky again.”

“I could, but could our friendship survive it?”

“Hey now,” James said hastily, “I thought we agreed to never again speak of the firewhisky incident.”

“Right you are, Prongs.”

“Well, fine, isn’t it Remus’s birthday soon? You could buy him a gift,” it was Lily’s turn to give him a meaningful look.

Sirius scowled at her and James narrowed his eyes suspiciously at their strange exchange. Before he could ask anything that might force a confession out of either of them, Sirius said, “Moony’s birthday isn’t until March, I’ve got plenty of time.”

Leo and Remus had reached the front of the queue. When McGonagall approved their permission slips, Sirius watched the two of them stroll off hand-in-hand. It made him want to throw up.

“Just come, Padfoot,” James said as the three of them shuffled forward in the queue.

“Why do you want me to come? So I can hang around outside like an abandoned puppy while you two snog over your bottles of butterbeer?”

Lily’s face flushed and James looked over to McGonagall as though afraid she might have overheard. They stood in heavy silence for a moment, while the people around them chatted and giggled and kissed. When the awkward moment finally sidled it’s way out, James looked back to Sirius.

“Who is it? Who do you like? I have to know, it’s driving me mad.”

“Evans will tell you.”

Lily’s eyebrows raised, “I will?”

“Sure, it’ll give you something to talk about while your regenerate your saliva.”

“Ugh, Padfoot,” James winced.

They reached McGonagall and Sirius moved to slip out of the queue. Lily looped her arm through his and dragged him with surprising strength up to McGonagall.

“Lily, let me go,” Sirius ordered.

“Mr. Potter, Mr. Black, Miss. Evans, you’re all on here,” McGonagall said, consulting a floating piece of parchment by her side, “Mr. Black, do I need to remind you of what happened last time you went to Hogsmeade or can you behave yourself?”

“I don’t need reminding, Professor, because I’m not going,” Sirius fought against Lily’s tight grip.

“Yes he is, Professor. He’ll behave,” James said, wrapping an arm around his shoulders.

McGonagall watched on as Sirius was rather forcefully abducted and dragged out of the castle. While Sirius fought against his kidnappers, McGonagall said, “Miss. Avery and Mr. Fairchild, both on here, you may go.”

Sirius struggled all the way to the country lane that lead to Hogsmeade. When he was far enough away, James and Lily finally released him, the two of them laughing at his scowl.

“That wasn’t funny!” Sirius snapped, “I had plans.”

“Oh yeah?” James asked, still laughing.

“What were you going to do? Your homework?” Lily asked, her eyes watery from laughter.

She had guessed correctly, Sirius gave her a dirty look but it only made Lily and James laugh harder. James seized Sirius as they walked and rubbed his hand over his hair, messing it up.

“Geroff me,” Sirius ordered, pushing James away.

“Oh no, now you’ll just have to have fun,” Lily feigned pity.

“If this is what my future looks like with you two dating, just kill me now,” Sirius grumbled. The more he protested and moped and grumbled, the harder Lily and James laughed.

By the time they reached Hogsmeade, the two of them were breathless with laughter and Sirius was feeling murderous.

* * *

Sirius had finally been released after a forced butterbeer with James and Lily. He had sneaked off while they were gazing fondly into each other’s eyes and Sirius doubted they’d notice his absence any time soon. He walked to Honeydukes because the thought of a hundred chocolate frogs was the only thing that made this trip seem worth it.

It was filled to the brim with Hogwarts students, as it always was on these trips. Sirius had to elbow his way past kissing couples cooing over the sugary lovehearts to reach the chocolate frogs. He grabbed handfuls of chocolate frogs and tried to picture the stash of sweets they had in their dorm. What else was it missing? He knew Peter liked sugar quills, so he grabbed some of them. He couldn’t remember what else they were running low on so he grabbed handfuls of whatever sweet he passed on his way to checkout.

He came away carrying two big bags full of sweets. He deemed this trip done and it had not been worth the hassle of coming here. As he was leaving, manoeuvring his bags out the door, he thought he heard someone call his name. He ignored it, he was not in the mood for company. He freed a chocolate frog from one of the bags and tore it open. He stuffed the wiggling, struggling frog into his mouth without bothering to look at the card.

“Padfoot!” someone called.

Sirius turned around to locate the person. Had James and Lily come after him?

Remus eased himself past an excited third year admiring the sweets displayed in the window. Sirius swallowed the chocolate frog so fast he was sure it was still trying to crawl out of his throat.

“You came,” Remus said.

“Against my will.” Remus drew his eyebrows together and Sirius explained, “Prongs and Evans are adept kidnappers.”

They walked down the street away from the excited crowd outside Honeydukes. Remus nudged Sirius into a shortcut between Honeydukes and it’s neighbouring building. Before they had gotten halfway, Remus stopped. He watched Sirius, who found it hard to meet his gaze. Sirius looked down the street to avoid seeing that green stare focused on him.

“Who is it?” Remus asked.

“Who’s who?” Sirius asked, though he suspected he knew what Remus was referring to.

“Who do you like?”

Sirius continued to stare down the street. At the end, he saw a cat slink away from it’s owner who was hunched over trying to get their attention. He could feel Remus still watching him, he prayed the answer wouldn’t be on his face.

“Where’s Leo?” he asked.

“I don’t know. Don’t change the subject.”

“Why does it matter? They don’t like me back.”

Remus took a step towards him, “How do you know? Maybe they do.”

“They don’t. They have a... partner.” At the last minute, Sirius had decided that the word _boyfriend_ would give too much away, even though it could be applied to half of their year. The Honeydukes bags were digging uncomfortably into his hands where he was gripping them tightly.

“So? Relationships break up,” Remus pressed. “Is it Oscar again?”

“No.”

“Is it Hoyt from Ravenclaw? Or Spencer?”

“No.”

“Maybe it’s better I don’t know,” Remus said, a strangely bitter tone in his voice, “You’ll be bored of them by next week.”

Sirius didn’t rise to the baiting in Remus’s words. He just shrugged weakly, “Not this one.”

“Willoughby from Hufflepuff.”

“Why does it matter?” Sirius asked again, his patience wearing thin.

“Because I want to know!” Remus shouted, making Sirius jump so hard, he spilt lemon sherbets across the ground.

Sirius looked at him for the first time and saw him bury his face in his hands briefly. He was visibly agitated and Sirius wished he’d stayed in the Three Broomsticks. He’d rather watch James and Lily play tonsil-tennis than deal with this. He could feel a confession building in his throat, choking him. He didn’t want to tell him. Remus was happy with Leo, he didn’t need this nonsense adding to his plate.

“What is it about them that has made you like this?” Remus asked, gesturing to Sirius with a shaking hand. “You’re moping all the time, even when you’re joking around you just seem sad. Who is it, Sirius? Who do you care about _this much?_ What is it about them?”

“They make me laugh,” Sirius said. He felt the words wrenched out of his throat and clamped his mouth closed, hard.

“Prongs makes you laugh,” Remus said, “I make you laugh. Even Wormtail’s made you laugh before!”

“They laugh at my jokes too,” Sirius said before he could stop himself. Courage was growing in his heart, the words were rushing up to his mouth unbidden.

“So do we,” Remus said, softly. All his anger and volume disappeared.

Sirius took a step closer to Remus and almost subconsciously Remus took a step backwards.

“I feel like I can really be myself around them,” Sirius continued.

“Is it Prongs?” Remus said with a faint laugh, but Sirius could tell he was only half-joking.

Sirius took another step forward, Remus backed up again. For some reason neither of them could describe, they’d both started speaking quieter. The shouting from earlier seemed impossible now. Sirius felt exposed to the wind rushing at them down the street, he felt watched.

“They’re really good at Defence Against the Dark Arts. Might be the best in our year, even better than me.”

Remus’s back hit the wall. Sirius let go of the Honeydukes bags and they landed with a thump on the ground. He slowly walked forward, almost afraid Remus would dart to the side and escape. Remus took a deep breath and held it, like he was about to be submerged under water.

Sirius lowered his voice even more, barely loud enough to be heard over the distant shouting of students. To speak any louder now would feel obscene. Sirius pressed right up to Remus but didn’t quite touch him. He left space for an escape, space for the wind, space for his courage to dwindle.

“But he’s really bad at Care of Magical Creatures, like _so bad._ I don’t get it because he’s smart and kind, but the animals seem afraid of him, almost like he-”

“Stinks like a werewolf,” Remus whispered.

There was nothing to see now beyond Remus’s green eyes, nothing to feel beyond the shake in Sirius’s chest. Sirius was feeling bold and reckless, drunk on his confession. He leaned forward, his eyes on Remus’s lips. For one shining, bright moment, it felt like Remus was going to move to meet him. His whole body tensed like he was about to dive off a cliff.

A hand landed on Sirius’s chest and Remus stilled him, stopping his advance.

“Stop, Sirius. Is this cheating?”

“No, Moony, no,” Sirius breathed. He took hold of Remus’s hand on his chest and gently eased it out of the way, “ _This_ is cheating.”

He kissed Remus. His chest swelled with emotion, it was going to burst. He could feel Remus overthinking every move until Sirius pressed him further against the wall and he let himself go. He captured Sirius in warm arms, not caring about who might see or what they might say. They kissed and Sirius had the fleeting thought that if he died here, he wouldn’t mind, and then Remus’s tongue was in his mouth and all conscious thought left his head.

It was the best kiss Sirius had ever had and it was the worst, because all too soon it was over.

He heard distant laughter growing louder and he pulled away from Remus as reality came crashing back down on him. He backed up until he almost tripped over the Honeydukes bags. Remus was looking at him with wide-eyes, thunderstruck. They stared at each other, the momentous occasion weighing over them. Sirius couldn’t think of anything to say.

“Oh!” James said, surprised and giggly, “I thought this street would be empty.”

Sirius struggled to catch his breath. He struggled to change his face into a more reasonable expression. He couldn’t look away from Remus’s terrified face.

“What’s up?” Lily asked, sudden worry filling her voice.

“Nothing,” Remus said, his voice broke and he tried again, “Nothing.”

“Oh… kay,” Lily said slowly. Sirius finally managed to turn his head. James and Lily were staring at them and Sirius was suddenly sick of being looked at. He wanted to hide, to magically seal the hangings around his bed so no one could ever see him again.

With a forced attempt at being light and casual, Lily said, “Leo’s looking for you, Remus.”

“Of course he is,” Sirius surprised himself with his own bitterness.

Remus’s head snapped to look at him and annoyance crinkled his face, “Yeah, of course he is, _because he’s my boyfriend, Sirius._ ”

“Remus-” Sirius barely got the word out before Remus stormed off down the street, too fast for any of them to stop him.

“What was that about?” James asked to no one in particular.

“Nothing,” Sirius said. He picked up the Honeydukes bags, leaving the spilt sweets for whoever stumbled across them next. He walked up to James and Lily who were still staring at him, still trying to fathom what had just happened. He gestured to the street, “It’s all yours.”

He stalked off in the opposite direction to Remus.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm in the process of moving house, there's only 2 chapters left after this one so if i get chance I will publish them both very soon :) thanks for all your lovely comments so far

When he returned from Hogsmeade, James wasn’t surprised to find neither Remus nor Sirius in the common room. While Lily waited by the portrait hole, James dashed up the stairs to the dorm but nobody was there either. He rummaged through his trunk, and then through Peter’s. He searched Remus’s bedside table and then finally found the Maurader’s Map under Sirius’s pillow.

He unlocked it and searched the grounds for his two best friends’ names. He found Remus Lupin in an empty classroom with Leopold Philips and decided it would be best not to interrupt them. Sirius Black’s labelled dot was to one side of the courtyard, alone, separate from the group of students’ names on the other side. He locked the map, folded it up, and rejoined Lily down by the portrait hole.

She slipped her hand in his as though it was the easiest thing in the world and they headed for the courtyard. Just like the Map said, Sirius was sat alone on a bench in the courtyard. He was watching the group of students show off what they’d bought in Honeydukes, but James doubted he was actually seeing anything.

They sat on the bench by Sirius and he roused enough to give them a greeting. Across the courtyard the students laughed as one of them revealed a dung bomb.

“You two are still together then?” Sirius asked.

“Lily didn’t tell me,” James said. He clarified, “Who you like.”

“It’s Moony,” Sirius said, abruptly.

James’s mouth fell open. First off, he had not been expecting to get a straight answer so soon. He had an argument for why he should know all queued up. Secondly, he had not, in any of the scenarios he’d considered, expected it to be Remus. Hell, he’d thought it might be McGonagall before he’d thought about Moony. He was slack-jawed and it took a momentous effort to close his mouth.

“Moony,” he repeated.

“Yep.”

James wanted to ask a thousand questions. When had this happened? Is that why he’d dumped Oscar? Is that why he disliked Leo? Had he always felt this way or was it new? Did he want to be with him or was it just a passing craze?

But in the end, all that came out was, “Moony? Our Moony?”

“The very same.”

“Why?” James asked, and he hadn’t intended the question to sound so rude.

“He just thinks he’s great,” Lily offered, shivering slightly in the cooling evening. She pulled a scarf out and wrapped it around her neck.

“She’s not wrong,” Sirius agreed.

“What happened in Hogsmeade?” James asked.

Sirius let out a weary sigh, he rolled his head letting his neck crack loudly. He bent forward, bringing his elbows to his knees and his chin to his hands. James felt sorry for him, he wanted to wrap him up in a huge cloak and feed him chocolate frogs until he bristled and pushed James off.

“I kissed him,” Sirius said glumly.

Again, James found himself slack-jawed. He blinked at Sirius and then looked over to Lily who seemed as surprised as he did – though looked much less dumbstruck. When he looked back to him, Sirius had not moved out of his miserable hunch. If anything, he seemed to have receded even further into his depression.

“Oh Merlin,” James said weakly. He tried to be supportive, “And did he… like it?”

Sirius gave him an incredulous look, “I don’t know how to answer that.”

James nodded awkwardly, “Probably best you don’t.”

“Well, I think it’s romantic,” Lily said boldly.

James and Sirius turned their incredulous looks on her. Romantic? A kiss in an alley while one of them had a boyfriend? If that was what Lily found romantic, James was in for a weird relationship. Lily patted Sirius’s back reassuringly.

“It was brave and reckless and completely mad. It was a very Sirius Black thing to do,” she said, kindly.

“You think so?” Sirius said, perking up slightly like a kicked dog offered a treat.

“No,” James said, cutting off whatever Lily had been going to say. James hurried on apologetically, “Sorry, mate, but it wasn’t romantic. It was bad, Moony has a boyfriend.”

Sirius deflated and Lily pulled him into a half-hug that he only reluctantly accepted. Over the top of Sirius’s bent head, Lily frowned at James.

“Is he happy, though?” she asked.

“Who? Moony? Of course he is. He’s Moony for bloody hell’s sake. If he was unhappy he’d just end it.”

“But-”

“Lily,” James said firmly, “We don’t get to decide if he’s happy or not. Look I want you happy, Sirius, and if being with Remus makes you happy then fine, I will be supportive as shit. Hell, I’ll plan your fucking wedding. But listen, I can’t condone you breaking up his relationship on a whim or him cheating! I just won’t have it, it’s not fair on either of you.”

Sirius spoke to his knees, “Damnit, when did you become the sensible one?”

“Love has changed me.”

He was rewarded with a weak laugh from Sirius but it was fleeting.

“You’re right,” Sirius said. He sat up and leaned back on the bench, his head angled up to the sky. The setting sun lighted on his deep frown. “It’s not fair on him.”

“Do you want me to make you an Elixir to Induce Euphoria? Or maybe a Dreamless Sleep potion, I’m particular adept at that one according to Slughorn.”

“You’re adept at everything according to Slughorn,” James said.

“Thanks Evans but I don’t think a potion can cure this, except maybe some good old fashioned firewhisky.”

James patted Sirius’s shoulder. He wondered what Remus was doing right now with Leo in that empty classroom. Maybe James should have a word with him too. He was his other best friend after all, he might be as upset as Sirius was. James didn’t want this to be the end of the Marauders.

“I have to ask,” James said, “the firewhisky incident of last Halloween... You and Moony kissed, didn’t you?”

“I’d say it was a little more than a kiss, but yeah.”

“Eurgh, I knew it.” James shook his head to try to dislodge the memory, “I’d hoped it was a drunken hallucination.”

“Why?”

“My two best mates snogging? That’s weird. It’s like my parents snogging.”

Lily laughed. She leaned across Sirius and tapped her finger to the tip of James’s nose, “Your parents do more than snog, James, that’s how they had you.”

“Ugh, I really don’t want to think about that,” James said.

“No need to worry, mate, I doubt me and Moony will be snogging ever again.”

* * *

James didn’t see Remus for the rest of the day and Sirius wasn’t in the mood to play, so when Lily suggested a walk around the grounds he gladly took up her offer. As they walked out into the grounds, the warmth of the day was wearing thin and a chill crept over them. Lily tied a scarf around her neck and James pulled her woolly hat over her eyes to make her laugh.

He reached for her hand as they crossed through the courtyard and he was embarrassed to feel warmth spread through his chest. Their hands swung between them and James really wanted to revel in the moment, to enjoy the fact that he had finally gotten a date with Lily Evans.

But he couldn’t, because he kept thinking of Sirius hunched in on himself and Remus disappearing to who knew where.

“Why did they have to do this now?” James asked half to Lily and half to the universe on whole.

“The same reason we’re doing this now,” Lily waved their clasped hands in front of him, “it was time.”

James beamed at her, “It was time for you to admit I’m not the toerag you thought I was?”

“Something like that.”

They walked hand-in-hand down to the same birch tree she had asked him out under. They sat down in the grass, Lily tucked her legs underneath her to keep warm. James shifted closer and wrapped his arm around her.

“They’re still not talking to each other?” Lily asked, shuffling closer to steal his heat.

“They said two words to each other before,” James said as though this tiny amount of progress was the best thing he could have hoped for. “Sirius asked me if _Rictusempra_ ended in A or E. Remus said A and Sirius said thanks.”

“Wow,” Lily said.

“Yeah, it’s bad, Lil. I think I might start going crazy soon,” James fretted. He picked at the grass with his spare hand, “I’m so used to Sirius and Remus’s banter that I’m hearing them in my head now.”

“It’s been less than a day!”

“They bully me a lot.”

“Maybe we should get them together.”

James looked at her out the corner of his eye, “Why are you so into them being together?”

“I just think they’re cute together,” Lily shrugged, “You’ve seen them. Half the time in the common room Remus is sleeping on Sirius’s shoulder or Sirius is stretched across Remus’s lap. It’s about time they did something about it.”

James suddenly saw his memories of Remus and Sirius differently in his mind. Last summer when they’d played a rather convoluted two-on-two Quidditch match and Remus had shared Sirius’s broom since he didn’t have or want his own. Sirius saving all the green Bertie Bott’s Beans for Remus because the lime ones were his favourite, and one of them might be lime. Remus always somehow falling asleep on Sirius’s shoulder, even if James was sat on the other side of him. Sirius sleeping as Padfoot at the end of Remus’s bed whenever there was a thunderstorm. Sirius stretching his legs into Remus’s lap when they planned their pranks.

The two of them constantly looking at each other, making jokes, sharing secret smirks, turning to see whether the other had laughed at what they’d said.

James slapped himself on the forehead, “Merlin, I’m an idiot.”

“That’s what I said!” Lily exclaimed with a laugh. “I mean, about me, when I found out Sirius liked Remus. It’s so obvious isn’t it?”

“Bloody hell, this is the end of the Marauders, I tell you.”

“Well, worst things have happened,” Lily shrugged. At James’s insulted face, she laughed and brushed hair off his forehead, “I’m joking. I’d miss giving you lot detentions.”

The sun was setting alight to the tips of Lily’s hair beneath her woolly hat, making it glow. Her nose was pink from the chill and her fingers were cold as they continued to brush through his hair almost absent-mindedly. He watched her, watched the curve of her smile as his hair constantly flopped back into it’s usual mess as she tried to neaten it, watched her blond lashes cast shadows over her freckled face as the sun dipped lower, watched the way she seemed to admire every inch of his face right back.

“I’ve been thinking,” James said, softly.

“That doesn’t bode well,” she joked, matching his quiet volume.

“We were interrupted,” James said, catching her hands and lowering them from his head, “After Honeydukes, where you made me eat all those cockroach clusters.”

She laughed melodically, “I didn’t make you, you didn’t have to take the bet.”

“I don’t back down from a bet… If we hadn’t ran into Sirius and Remus, I would’ve kissed you.”

A soft pink colour rose in her cheeks, “It’s a good thing you didn’t, you would’ve tasted like cockroaches.”

James let out a soft laugh, already leaning in to meet her. He kissed her and her lips were as cold as her fingertips. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, pulling him closer. It was soft and sweet and addictive. Before she’d even fully pulled away, James had captured her lips again and again. He kissed her until their teeth bumped together because they were laughing so much, until her arms were wrapped so tightly around his neck he could hardly breathe, until he felt like he could survive for five more minutes before he’d need to kiss her again.

When they finally pulled away completely, a round of cheers and wolfwhistles came from the lakeside. James looked up and saw half of the Gryffindor Quidditch team giving them a standing ovation. James buried his face on Lily’s shoulder.

“Way to go, Captain!” one of his Chaser’s yelled.

“Scoring on and off the pitch,” his Keeper shouted to another round of shouts and laughter.

“Shut up or I’ll fire you all,” James shouted back to them, surfacing from Lily’s shoulder long enough to look at their amused faces.

Lily stood up and pulled James with her. She had to stand on her tiptoes to kiss him again to another chorus of wolfwhistles. James stuck his finger up at his team and together, hand-in-hand, Lily and James walked back to the castle. Before they entered the castle, James kissed Lily for the fourteenth time, giving himself the energy he needed to make it to the Grand Staircase where he kissed her once more.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soo moving house made me exceptionally busy. I've only just got an internet connection back! So here you are. Sorry for the delay, I hope these last 2 chapters will make the wait worth it!

By the time Monday rolled around, the weather had firmly returned to wintry rain showers and sharp winds. The ceiling was a stormy, gloomy grey when Remus sat down for breakfast beside Peter, opposite James and Sirius. James nodded a good morning and Peter squeaked out a hello, but Sirius, who had been exceptionally quiet since Saturday, didn’t look up from the cold scrambled eggs on his plate. Remus didn’t blame him, he wasn’t sure he really wanted to talk to Sirius either.

Remus did miss him, they hadn’t even mocked James for finally achieving his lifetime wish of kissing Lily Evans. The four of them had gone to the library yesterday and for the first time in their school lives, they had successfully studied for three hours without breaking down into laughter, because no one had spoken a single word other than to ask questions about schoolwork.

It was eerie, like the four of them had giving up being Marauders and become monks instead.

That being said, Remus couldn’t bring himself to talk to Sirius. He had a feeling that if their conversation edged out of safe schoolwork territory, Remus might suddenly vomit up every feeling he’d ever had for Sirius and lay it all out for Sirius to peruse and reject as he pleased.

It was best to keep his lips firmly sealed against the tide of thoughts threatening to spill out.

Unfortunately, that meant he kept his lips firmly sealed against normal conversation too.

They ate in silence. James tried to start a conversation about Quidditch but Peter was the only one to respond and it eventually dwindled out. He looked stressed and Remus was all too glad to bury his face in the Daily Prophet so he didn’t have to face him.

“Morning all,” Lily said. She had come up from the other end of the table. She squeezed into the gap between Sirius and James and pecked James on the cheek. She shivered with exaggeration, “Brr, cold over here.”

Remus glanced up just in time to see Lily aim a meaningful and rather McGonagall-esque look at Sirius. He gave a one shouldered shrug and returned to stabbing the scrambled eggs he’d barely eaten. Remus had suspected James knew what had happened in that side-street in Hogsmeade, and now he knew Lily knew something too. He subtly fanned his face with the newspaper and threw a glance to the Ravenclaw table. Leo was in a huddle with his friends and Remus looked away before any of them could spot him.

In Herbology, they were collecting Snargaluff pods again which suited Remus just fine because they barely had time to talk. He seized a handful of writhing tentacles and tied them together with an elastic band. When the hole opened, he shoved his hand in. His fingertips knocked against Sirius’s, they’d both reached for the pod. Remus and Sirius yanked their hands backwards like the Snargaluff had suddenly closed on them.

James spluttered, “Did it get you?”

“I’m good,” Sirius said.

Unbeknownst to him, a tentacle had been slowly crawling up his back. It suddenly reared over his shoulder and wrapped around his neck. Sirius spluttered as it wrapped tighter.

James barely had time to utter, “Fuck.”

Remus shoved the secateurs into James’s hand. Tentacles wrapped around his wrists as he did so. Peter had to help him fight them off while Sirius was choking. After a long, hard battle, Sirius could breathe again and the hole opened a second time. Remus and Sirius both lunged forwards. Their hands met again and they jerked backwards. The hole snapped shut.

James muttered something under his breath that no one caught because the tentacles were back up and sprouting more. They had to fight again, harder. After liberal use of elastic bands, some cable ties, and the severing charm, the hole in the stump once again opened.

Sirius and Remus moved for it but James caught their wrists. Through gritted teeth, he said, “Wormtail and I’ve got it.”

He shoved their wrists away and stuck his own hand in. In seconds, he’d produced their first pod of the lesson and tossed it unceremoniously into their basket. Remus sat back on his heels and watched Peter and James continue to tackle the Snargaluff while Sirius massaged his throat. As James wrangled a handful of tentacles, Sirius looked up at Remus and their eyes met.

Sirius stopped massaging his throat. He lowered his hand and showed off a pink welt running along his neck. He smirked and dropped his gaze. Remus let out a tiny laugh.

* * *

“Weren’t you on Prefect duty yesterday?” Lily asked as Remus clambered out of the Gryffindor common room with her.

Remus straightened up when the Fat Lady swung closed behind them, and fiddled with his tie, “Yeah. The, er, Head Boy has put me on duty for the rest of the week.”

“Oh?” Lily said, and her face lit up with interest.

Remus wasn’t inclined to discuss why his apparent boyfriend was being so harsh, so he quickly changed subjects, “How are things with James going?”

Lily smiled and set off down the corridor. Remus was glad to be with her on rounds at least. She was a little bit of protection in case they ran into Leo. Remus begged every deity he knew to keep Leo away from him. He highly doubted he would be hexed but he also knew their meeting would not be a barrel of laughs. Their last conversation had ended in tears.

“It’s great,” Lily beamed, “I mean, he’s still a tosser-”

“Oh, for sure.”

“-but he’s great. It’s great. Our date in Hogsmeade was great and yeah, it’s just great.”

“So… it’s great, then?”

Lily flushed, “Yeah, I guess.”

They walked on and every few steps Remus could feel Lily look at him sideways. He knew it was only a matter of time before the conversation turned to this unusual love triangle between himself, Sirius, and Leo.

Sure enough, as they descended the Grand Staircase, Lily blurted, “What’s going on with you and Sirius?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Remus said, almost mechanically.

“Okay, changing the subject…” Lily paused, and then said, “Did you know James’s hair is falling out?”

“Really? Why?”

“From all the stress of you and Sirius not talking.”

“Lily,” Remus warned.

“Okay, okay, subject change again…” Another pause, and Lily said, “Hey I heard a rumour.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Leo is being suddenly harsher with the punishments he’s handing out. Apparently he gave a pair of second year girls four nights detention for chewing gum.”

Remus slammed to a stop, “So you clearly want to talk about it.”

“Only if you do!” Lily held her hands up in surrender.

Remus glared at her but he couldn’t hold it for long enough. He knew it wasn’t going to scare her into silence. He sighed in acquiescence. He did have to tell someone. He suspected that Lily knew a lot more than she was letting on, she was dating James after all, and Sirius had almost definitely told James everything.

“Fine,” Remus said wearily.

He ran through the events of the weekend. He told her everything from his rather stilted date with Leo to his spontaneous make out session with Sirius. She was not as surprised as he expected, which confirmed his suspicions that she already knew. He decided to skip over the fact that the kiss had made him feel like his heart had started beating for the first time ever. Lily had seen him storm off after but she hadn’t known he’d used the tunnel through the Shrieking Shack to get back to Hogwarts so he could avoid everyone.

She didn’t know that on Saturday, Remus had been absent from the dorm most of the day because he was in an empty classroom breaking up with Leo, who really, really, _really_ had not wanted it to be over.

“There was a lot of begging,” Remus sighed.

“Oh no. Did you tell him about the kiss?”

“No. Should I have?”

“Hm, probably not.” Lily stopped him with a hand to his arm, “Are you going to date Sirius now?”

Remus gently extracted himself and kept walking, “No.”

“But… Leo?” Lily jogged after him.

“I didn’t break up with him for Sirius,” Remus said. As an after thought, he added a small, soft, “Mostly.”

Lily beamed but managed to keep whatever humiliating thing she was thinking of saying to herself. Remus was grateful for that. He’d told her the truth, he hadn’t broken up with Leo for Sirius but the kiss had spurred him on. That one kiss with Sirius had been better than all of the kisses he’d had with Leo. Sirius kissed like he did everything else, full of enthusiasm and genuine emotion.

Remus wasn’t going to ask him out though. He’d already kissed Sirius once before, under the influence of Firewhisky and Halloween sweets, and the next day they’d all decided to forget everything.

“You should talk to him,” Lily said. Ahead of her, a group of fourth years that had been adding graffiti to a wall sprinted off but she didn’t give chase, “You’re a Gryffindor, aren’t you?”

“It’s not about being brave,” Remus said, “Sirius has dumped more interesting people than me.”

“So? James might dump me one day.”

“Doubtful.”

“He might! I might dump him. You can’t live your life in fear of being dumped, Remus.”

“Since when are you so wise?”

“Love has changed me,” Lily said with a laugh.

Remus shook his head at her with amused fondness. They carried on their rounds, walking along the Transfiguration corridor and keeping an ear out for Filch, who wouldn’t pass up a chance to shout at students, even prefects. Remus was thinking about Lily’s point. Maybe tomorrow between dinner and prefect rounds, Remus could find a chance to ask Sirius to help him with his jackalope again.

“What if he hates me now?” Remus asked, surprised by his own question.

“What if he turns into a ham sandwich and Peter eats him?” Lily asked in an equally concerned tone. At Remus’s confused expression, she said, “I thought we were listing stupid scenarios that will never happen?”

“You know, you’re sounding more and more like James every day.”

Someone paused to stare at them from the other end of the corridor. Remus and Lily slowed to a stop. Remus lifted a hand and gave an awkward wave. Leo didn’t return the wave, he looked like he wanted to set the corridor on fire around them. With a glower, Leo turned in the opposite direction and stalked off.

“Now there’s someone who hates you,” Lily said.

When they finished their prefect rounds, the Fat Lady was irritated at being woken up. Lily had to say the password three times before she eventually swung open to let them in. Inside, Lily turned to grin at him and waggled her eyebrows suggestively. It took Remus a moment to understand what she was doing.

Sirius was asleep on the couch, the only person out of bed. A book was open in his lap and his cloak had been wrapped around him like a blanket, probably by James. His mouth was hanging open, his face relaxed. Remus smiled.

“Talk to him,” Lily whispered, giving him a little shove in Sirius’s direction before disappearing into the girls dorms.

Remus did as he was told. He sat on the couch next to Sirius and watched him sleep for a moment. He looked cold by the dying fire and Remus very almost tucked the cloak further around him. Instead, he eased the book out of his hands. Sirius’s empty hand clenched gently in his cloak as the book was removed.

It was his Defence Against the Dark Arts book, and it was open on the page about werewolves. Remus stifled a laugh to avoid waking him up. The werewolf page was heavily defaced. The detailed sketch of a werewolf had a doodled pointed hatand a wand. Here and there Sirius had crossed out words and added corrections. He had corrected the words uncontrollable, fearsome, and deadly into cuddly, adventurous, and nerdy _._ At the very top of the page, Sirius had drawn a paw print, a pair of antlers, a crescent moon, and a curly bit of string that must have been a worm-like tail.

The majority of the graffiti occurred under the title How to Identify a Werewolf. Sirius had scribbled out so many words that if Remus hadn’t memorised this paragraph long ago he would have no clue what it said.

In the margin, Sirius’s handwriting read, “Fond of apple jelly beans.”

Beneath that, Remus read his own writing, “Factually incorrect, werewolves are partial to lime jelly beans.”

“Werewolves are more likely to become prefects,” James’s writing said.

“Subtle, Prongs,” Remus’s writing said.

Sirius had written, “Werewolves complain constantly about breaking rules but continue to break rules anyway.”

“Werewolves grow tired of their friends being so incredibly subtle,” Remus had finished.

Remus shut the book quietly and placed it onto the table. He nudged Sirius a few times until he clamped his mouth shut and jerked upright. His eyes spun around the room and landed on Remus, his relaxed expression tightened.

“Moony,” he said.

“Why are you still up?”

“I was waiting for you,” Sirius said, he freed himself from his cloak and swiped a hand through his hair, mussing it up accidentally and looking reminiscent of James. “Did you know Prongs’s hair is falling out?”

“I did.”

“So, in the interest of Prongs’s luscious locks, can we forget what happened this weekend?” Sirius shifted in his seat to face Remus but his eyes remained fixed on the dying fire in the fireplace. Remus wished he would look at him. He wanted to face that daunting, grey gaze once and for all.

“No.”

Fearfully, Sirius turned his gaze to Remus. He’d never seen Sirius look so timid and it was unsettling.

Remus rushed on before he could chicken out, “Why did you kiss me?”

Sirius arched an eyebrow, “Isn’t it obvious?”

“Answer the question.”

“Because I like you, Moony, obviously,” Sirius said, bristling slightly at being forced to share his feelings.

“Padfoot, you’ve dumped more interesting people than me.”

Sirius laughed, “ _Because of you_! I broke up with Liam because you knocked me out cold with a stunning charm in Defence and I was so into it. I broke up with Michael because you were tired after the full moon and you fell asleep with your head on my shoulder.”

“Padfoot-”

“And,” Sirius continued loudly, growing more animated as he continued, “I broke up with Oscar – who was so fit, by the way – because on Halloween, drunk on firewhisky, you kissed me and I decided I never wanted to kiss anyone else ever again.”

It was on this very couch where Remus had kissed Sirius, drunk and giddy on firewhisky and sweets and the sparkling charms Lily had put up around the room.

Remus kissed Sirius again now. There conversation wasn’t over but Remus was done talking. He kissed Sirius softly like he’d crumble to dust if he pressed any harder. His hands were shaking as they wrapped in Sirius’s cloak. Sirius placed warm hands on either side of Remus’s face delicately. They were breathy and tentative, nervous like a couple of third years sharing their first kiss. Emotion flooded Remus’s chest and he pulled away shakily.

Remus and Sirius looked at each other. There was a beat of silence and then they both burst into laughter, Sirius’s face was flushed and Remus’s hands wouldn’t stop shaking. They laughed like they’d just heard the funniest joke in their lives. All the pent up emotion of the weekend leaked out in their laughter.

“Prongs is going to hate this,” Sirius said when he finally stopped laughing.

“But Lily’s going to be ecstatic.”

Remus kissed Sirius again. They were braver this time, it was like their Hogsmeade kiss all over again. It didn’t matter that the fire was dwindling out because Remus was soon burning up. He felt like his heart was going to explode, like it had been still and silent since Saturday and now it was working again. Remus moved closer to Sirius, tasted his tongue, as Sirius’s hand went to the back of Remus’s neck pulling him closer.

Abruptly, Sirius pushed him away, “Whoa, wait, Moony, this is cheating.”

Remus gave a soft grunt of disagreement but Sirius’s hands stopped him from kissing him again. Sirius’s eyebrows were knitted together, worry lined his face.

Sirius worked up to a speech, his face scrunched in concentration like he’d memorised these words in preparation, “I know I already kissed you, but I shouldn’t have. You have a boyfriend and it’s not fair, Moony. I can’t let you cheat on him, I’m not… I’m not a bad person.”

“I don’t think you’re a bad person,” Remus said, sincerely.

“We can’t kiss again until you break up with him, or… or…” Sirius hesitated, “Or stay with him. It’s your choice but it can’t be both.”

“I already chose, Padfoot.” Remus placed a hand gently on Sirius’s cheek and watched as Sirius braced for bad news. “I chose you. It was always going to be you. It should’ve been you from the start.”

“You broke up with him? When?” Sirius asked. His face was a complex mix of hope and fear. Like he was waiting for Remus to laugh and say _just kidding, it’s Leo._

Remus grimaced guiltily at him, “The day after Valentine’s Day.”

“Oof, poor guy.”

“Are you really sympathetic?” Remus asked sceptically.

“A little,” Sirius shrugged. A small smiled eased onto his face, “So, it’s really me?”

“It’s really you.”

They kissed again. They had four months of kissing to catch up on, and it looked like Sirius wanted to get it all done tonight.


	8. Epilogue

Sirius threw the invisibility cloak off himself and Remus jumped into the air in shock. He pressed a hand to his heart and took a steadying breath while Sirius laughed. Even terrifed, Remus looked beautiful. His green eyes wide enough to fall into.

“Padfoot, I told you to stop doing that!”

“And I told you no.”

“Don’t make me give you detention for being out of bed.”

“You can’t give me detention, I’m your boyfriend!”

“Lily gave Prongs detention two days ago.”

Sirius glared but, unaffected, Remus kept walking down the corridor on his prefect rounds. Sirius folded the cloak up and rushed after Remus.

“Do you know what day it is?” he asked when he caught up to him.

Remus looked thoughtful, “Hm, Tuesday?”

“Well, yeah but it’s also 32 days since you became my boyfriend, which makes it our one month and one day-iversary!”

“Wow, that’s a new record for you,” Remus said, proudly. He patted Sirius’s head like a dog, “Getting bored of me yet?”

“No,” Sirius pushed his hand away, “You getting bored of me?”

“A little,” Remus shrugged.

Sirius gasped in offence, “If you’re going to dump me, can you wait, like, a week so I can further my record-breaking?”

Remus sighed in a put upon way and leant against a classroom door. He eased it open behind him and glanced inside. “I suppose you’ll just have to keep me entertained for a week.”

Sirius grinned and sneaked into the classroom after Remus. They lit a few candles with their wands and Sirius hopped up onto a desk. He pulled Remus close to him and they kissed. It wasn’t their first kiss but it still made Sirius struggle to catch his breath. Sirius wished they were back in the dorm on his bed instead of on this hard desk.

He had just pulled Remus so close he could almost feel his heartbeat when the door opened.

“Oh bloody hell!” James yelped, slapping a hand over his eyes. Angrily, he said, “I thought we agreed you’d stop snogging in places I might be!”

“We agreed to no such thing,” Sirius said.

“And why would we expect you in this empty classroom?” Remus asked.

“They have a point,” Lily said.

“They have no point!” James exclaimed.

“Prongs, shut your mouth, do you want Filch here to put a stop to your snogging too?” Sirius demanded.

“You already put a stop to it by being in the room we wanted.”

“Well, there’s plenty of space,” Sirius gestured around the empty room, his knees pressing into the outside of Remus’s thighs obscenely.

“I would rather watch Snivellus strip,” James said with disgust.

“You’re such a supportive friend,” Remus said dryly.

“Hey, wait a minute, it’s been a month, hasn’t it? Happy record breaking, Sirius!” Lily said, giving him a short round of applause.

“Thanks Evans, at least one of you is supportive,” Sirius said. As she pushed James back out the door and into the corridor, he called, “Enjoy your audition!”

“Shut up, Sirius,” she laughed.

Before Remus could ask what that was about, Sirius kissed him again.

“At some point, I need to get back to my rounds,” Remus said between kisses pressed against his mouth.

“Sure, maybe a month from now?” Sirius offered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, I hope you liked it! Check out my other marauder fics if you like my writing style.
> 
> Thanks for the great comments, I'm sure I'll be back again!


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